Bully Ray Vents Frustration On AEW Creative Direction: 'It's Groundhog Day' - Wrestling Inc.

Over the past week, Bully Ray has seemingly begun waging a one man war against AEW, in particular criticizing the Death Riders and Jon Moxley to the point where it led to former UFC star Josh Barnett challenging Bully to a fight. And it seems the root for Bully's frustration comes from Moxley's ongoing storyline with Will Ospreay. On Friday's "Busted Open Radio," Bully honed in on how he felt Ospreay had forgotten/blown off the fact that Moxley nearly broke his neck last year, feeling more attention needed to be paid to that aspect of the angle."I would love to see Moxley and Will Ospreay in a situation where they're having one of their conversations, where Moxley is trying to make Will see the light at the end of the tunnel, or help Will out, or whatever it is that Moxley and the Death Riders are trying to do for Will," Bully said. "And then I'd like to see the Death Riders leave, and I'd like to see Will look at Moxley and go 'Wow, I never thought we'd be in this spot right now, you know, considering just, a year ago, you tried to break my neck,' and walk away. I want Will Ospreay to acknowledge that he remembers these guys tried to do something bad to him, as opposed to 'Oh, its okay. I'll forget about it, I'm going to put it past me.' There is no response, because it doesn't make f*****g sense!"As such, Bully feels this is another sign that AEW can't get out of its own way when it comes to their creative direction."It's Groundhog Day with AEW," Bully said. "It's been Groundhog Day with AEW for a long time. There's...and s**t not making sense is why they are behind on ticket sales for All In, considerably behind on ticket sales for All In, in a building that they did 80K in and 40K in respectively. Why do numbers go...why are the numbers going down? Maybe it's disinterest because things just don't make sense."If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription I sit here before you right now, having listened to that several minute diatribe Bully Ray unleashed, in a state of bemusement and above all else, frustration. What am I frustrated about? Primarily that this criticism of AEW makes no unearthly sense at all. Bully Ray, and his co-host Dave LaGreca, would like you to believe that AEW is telling a story where Will Ospreay is totally fine with Jon Moxley and the Death Riders nearly "crippling" him last year, and has no issues working with them. In reality, the whole crux of the story is that Ospreay has neither forgiven nor forgotten, but because he is so consumed with winning the AEW Men's World Championship in the All In main event (in his home country no less), he is willing to view the Death Riders' help as a necessary evil to get him over the hump. And guess what; it's changing him! That was the whole point of Swerve Strickland's promo on him last week. I guess since it wasn't inspired by "Star Wars," Bully and LaGreca must have missed it.But aside from that, what Bully and his cohorts seem to be missing is that you can tell a story without bashing people over the head with certain elements. Just because Ospreay isn't talking about Moxley nearly breaking his neck last year every time he's onscreen doesn't mean he's forgotten or that AEW has forgotten; in fact, I would argue that element hangs over every aspect of Ospreay's story going into Wembley. Does that mean AEW conclude the story in a satisfying matter? No. But that's not the argument Bully is making. In the end, there were only two things Bully got right in his diatribe. First, AEW All In ticket sales are trailing previous years, though one could argue that's because no matches are official and because AEW isn't as "hot" as before more so than any story. Second, it is Groundhog Day. And it's Groundhog Day because Bully is making another ill informed AEW take that makes you question whether he watches the show, is stupid, or all of the above.